Summer Lovin'
by youdeservebetter
Summary: This is basically a 3 part story on what I believe happened to Zig over the summer. (Three parts and no more, sorry!)
1. Chapter 1

It's the first day of summer vacation. Last time Zig talked to Maya, she mentioned she was taking the field trip to Paris that Madame Jean-Aux was offering for her students. A trip he wishes he could join her on but simply can't afford to, especially if it meant leaving his mom alone. Zig decided to go see Maya the day before she left, since they were on such good terms now. He reached the front of her house when he stood there contemplating the entrance. Last time he was there, Katie let him in the house, shooting him a dirty look. Things were different now, and he was hoping Katie changed too. Steadily, he raised his hand to knock on Maya's door. His palms began to sweat, his breath began to catch in his throat, and just as he decided to leave, the door opened.

"Zig! Come in," Maya said letting Zig inside. He sighed at the sight of Maya's face. She took note of his relief. She always had a way of reading his expressions well. "Don't worry, Katie's out for today," she said closing the door behind. Eagerly she made a trek for her room, gesturing for Zig to follow her. "Plus, I talked her about you and if she gives you any shit, then you just come right to me."

He relaxed a bit after hearing Katie was out. "I don't get why she wouldn't like me," he said rather seriously before he quickly changed his tone. Maya didn't need to worry about his insecurities. "I'm obviously a charmer," he replied smirking.

Maya rolled her eyes at him. It was so like Zig to be so confident. She really missed being with him. "If you were such a charmer with the ladies, you probably would've gotten a free trip to Paris," she said walking into her room. _And I wouldn't have to feel so conflicted about going _she quietly thought to herself.

Zig slowly followed behind her into her room. It was a simple room with a queen bed and dresser. She had a huge window that was accompanied by a seat and a little nook for what looked like to be a bunch of notebooks. He wondered if any guys had been in this room, had Cam seen her room ever. He quickly shook the thoughts out of his head. "Well I might have charmed Madame Jean-Aux into letting me come pro bono but not my mom so much," he said taking a seat at her dresser.

She turned to her mess of a closet with clothes splayed out all over the floor and a somewhat empty suitcase opened on her bed. "I wish you could come, though," she frowned, starting to fold the clothes around her. Suddenly her face lit up and she turned to Zig grinning.

He noticed her suddenly facing him. "What's up, raccoon eyes?" he said smiling back at her. He was happy that she wanted him to come, it helped debunk his theories that she secretly hated him for what he did to Cam.

"What if I ask your mom if you can come?!" she said clasping her hands together. She'd never really talk to Mama Novak before but the way Zig talked about her, she seemed cool enough.

"Oh I don't think you should," he said casually raking a hand through his hair.

"Aw, why not?" she said pouting at him. He couldn't resist her being so cute right now. Today was only making it harder to let her go all summer to another country.

"Because, my mom might say yes but then I'd feel guilty leaving her alone all summer," he replied shyly looking at his feet. Also, he didn't want Maya to meet his mom, at least not yet. Mama Novak had figured all about Zig's crush on Maya without him saying a word to her. He still hasn't figured out how she did so.

Her eyes widened a bit at his response. She went back to folding her clothes, grinning enormously at her suitcase. "You really are a charmer, doofus," she replied letting out a chuckle.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:**** I wasn't originally going in this direction but I got inspired last minute so if some things seem inconsistent from the previous chapter, I'm truly sorry!**_  
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_58 more days _Zig thought to himself as he mindlessly gazed out the window. Maya set off for Paris a couple of weeks back. He texted her a few times but received no response. He figured she was too busy soaking up Paris to pay any attention to her phone, not that he blamed her. The store was relatively empty that day; it had been like that all week. It had mainly been him and occasionally Damon managing the store. His mom was out working her second job at some campaign company. He never bothered learning about it since it meant him spending his summer days at the store.

Damon made it a habit every day to come by the convenience store. He spent the long, humid hours trying to convince Zig to close shop and go to the skate park with him. Zig usually didn't budge but this week was different. No one even so much as glanced into the store as they walked by. Since Mama Novak was going to be out the whole day, Zig decided to close shop for an hour at most.

He quickly locked up the door and headed towards the skate park with Damon by his side. Technically Damon didn't skateboard; he didn't even own one but came along anyways to hang out with the rest of their group. They had finally reached the park where they met with their usual group. As Zig was greeting all his friends, he noticed a group of people in the corner of the park that he had never seen before. They weren't even skating. They just stood there seemingly doing nothing.

"Who are those people over there?" Zig said pointing towards the unfamiliar group of people. "I've never seen them here before."

Damon turned his attention to where Zig was indicating to. "Oh yeah, those are the druggies," he replied casually. His older brother does drugs so it made sense to Zig as to why Damon took it so lightly.

"What do you mean?" Zig asked confused. He had been out of the loop because he had been so busy with the store but Damon would at least fill him on. But he never mentioned anything about this.

"Well those kids started hanging around here starting about a week ago. They sell drugs, they deal 'em, any questions?" he replied smugly.

"Hm" was all Zig said before he went on to his regular skateboarding routine. He didn't have much time before he had to be back to the shop and he was gonna take advantage of his free time. After a couple of rounds and a few races later, he picked up his board and headed towards the store. Damon didn't bother to join him.

He arrived at the store to see his mother waiting at the counter. "Oh, Ma," he stuttered. He hadn't expected to see her til much later.

"Ni odin iz , chto teper'" she replied waving a hand at Zig as she walked towards the door. "I just came back to check up on you."

"I wasn't out for long, just for an hour, I swear," he said breaking out in a nervous sweat.

Seeing her son hesitate, she softened her previous scowl. She walked up to him and took his hands in her own. "Zig…" she began saying, "you're a 15 year old boy."

"I'm 16, Ma," he said smiling at her. She knew his age, of course, but he'd always be her little boy in her eyes.

"Oh right, 16!" she said rolling her eyes at him. "You shouldn't be spending your summer working in a convenience store. You should be out hanging out with your friends," she replied sincerely.

He squeezed his mother's hands. She always doing what she thought was best for him. She always worked extra hard for him because it was just the two of them. He knew they were barely scraping by and his mother would require a second job this summer. Of course it would be hard to manage both jobs so he gracefully offered to stay behind and help. Even with the two jobs, things were still difficult but things were better than before, at least.

"Ma, hanging out with my friends isn't as important as keeping a roof over our heads and food on the table."

"This shouldn't be your concern, though. This is my job, Zigmund. It's my job as your mother to protect you from worrying about such things," she replied on the verge of tears.

He quickly embraced her into a hug. He hated seeing his mom like this. And what was worse that he couldn't do a thing about it. "Usually a mother has a father by her side to help her out. You're doing twice the amount of work and doing a better job than any set of parents could do," he responded, comforting her fears. "Plus, you've raised one hell of a son all on your own," he replied with a smirk.

She quickly wiped the tears away from her eyes and playfully smacked Zig's arm. "What could I have done to make my son so confident?" she replied laughing through her tears. She took his face in her hands and looked him straight in the eye. "You are a wonderful boy, I'm proud to have you as my son and any girl would be lucky to have you."

He rolled his eyes feeling embarrassed at her being so mushy with him. They weren't normally this emotional but today was different, I guess. "It's all thanks to you," he answered.

"Ok, ok, enough of this. I have to go," she replied quickly gathering her things. "Will you be ok?" Despite Zig's attempt at comforting her worrier, she was his mother after all, she'd worry regardless.

"Yeah, I'll be ok," he replied shooting her a sincere smile. _In 48 more days I'll be perfect _he thought to himself as he began setting up shop.

Just as he stepped outside, he saw Damon pacing back and forth. He was confused as to why Damon didn't just come inside and say hello. "What's up, dude?" he ask nonchalantly.

Damon hesitated in replying. "Oh, uh…I just saw your mom walk out the store so I wasn't sure if you were in the clear or not," he replied quickly, proud that he thought of a lie so swiftly.

Obviously Zig could tell Damon was lying, he knew him for far too long now. "Yeah and since when do you care what my mom thinks of you? She already thinks you're a bad influence on me," he replied stepping back in to the store.

Damon hesitated in following Zig inside but figured he might as well. "You haven't checked FaceRange lately, have you?" He knew that as soon as the words came out of his mouth, all hell would be released.

"No, why?" he asked confused.

"Oh, no reason. I gotta go. Nice catching up with you!" Damon said heading towards the door before Zig pulled back on the hood of his hoodie.

"I'm gonna find out either way so just tell me what's up, Damon," he question assertively.

Without a word, Damon pulled out his stolen iphone 5 and opened Maya's FaceRange page. He clicked a few buttons then handed the phone to Zig. Zig wasn't entirely sure what he was looking for until he saw the picture pop up. It was Maya and she was standing by Tristan and had her arms around an unfamiliar guy. A tall, brunette boy he'd never seen before. They looked awfully cozy. Zig's heart dropped and shattered into a million pieces. "Who…who?" was all Zig could muster out.

"I've read about this guy. His dad is that famous business guy running for mayor," Damon replied taking special attention to Zig's reaction. "But this doesn't mean they're together or anything."

Zig couldn't say anything else. Of course she'd rather be with a guy like this. Sure the picture didn't mean they were together but they're probably in the process of getting there while he slaved away in Toronto barely keeping a roof over his and his mom's head. This clearly wasn't another stunt Maya was pulling because of Cam's death, she seemed to genuinely like this guy. Everything he dreamt and knew about Maya slowly started burning before his eyes. Without a word, Zig stormed out of the store aimlessly. He wasn't sure where he was headed or what he could even do but he just needed to be alone and clear his head. The thing he had been looking forward to all summer was suddenly slipping away from his fingers and there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it.


	3. Chapter 3

It had been a few weeks since Zig found out about Maya and the mayor candidate's son. He didn't bother learning the guy's name because he didn't give a shit. Things have changed ever since. After he stormed out of the store, he aimlessly walked around. It was then he bumped into the kids he previously saw at the skate park. They were huddled in an alley in between the Dot and the store opposite of it. He made eye contact with a blue-haired, lip-pierced girl. He was about to pass by them when he was stopped.

"Hey, kid!" the girl spoke up. "You! With the hoodie!" Zig hesitated at first not knowing what to expect. After looking around and realizing he was the only one with a hoodie on, he slowly approached the girl with her meeting him halfway. Normally he would've avoided this type of situation but at that moment, nothing mattered anymore. "Weren't you at the skate park earlier?" Zig simply nodded in confirmation. "So whaddya say…can I bum ya a smoke?" She gestured at one of the guys behind her to come up. "I'll give you a cheap price," she exclaimed, winking at him.

Zig knew they were drug dealers but he didn't think he'd actually ever have to deal with them. Once the girl offered him a smoke, he considered it, right until she mentioned about a price. He was completely broke, even at cheap prices. "No, thanks," he replied. Even if he did have the money, did he really want to smoke?

"Aww, come now. I'll give you half price!" she insisted. "It's a good deal, you won't be sorry!"

"Listen, even if I could afford half price, I don't think I'd want anything," he replied, turning to walk away from her.

No matter what Zig wore, his face always gave out the impression that he is a loyal and trustworthy person. "Well I have another proposition for you," she said. She wanted a guy like Zig to be on her team. People like him were vital when it came to the type of business she ran.

"What kind of proposition?" Zig asked, turning back around.

"I want you to join the team!"

Zig let out a laugh. Why would they want anything to do with him? He couldn't afford to help them in anyway. "Yeah? Why?"

"Don't laugh, I'm serious!" she replied annoyed. "Because…we all know what it's been like to struggle. We all have our issues but there's a way out. Or a way to solve problem."

Zig took into serious consideration what she was offering. He'd be stupid to not help, right? "What'd you have in mind?" he intriguingly asked.

The girl smirked at his response. Without answering his question, she put out her hand to shake his. "The name's Grace."

Zig firmly shook her hand. "I'm Zig Novak."

"Right this way, Zig Novak," replied Grace. She introduced him to the rest of the gang. She explained that he would simply help them bring in business with making a marginal profit. "We'll talk logistics later," she insisted. Suddenly, she started looking him up and down. Taking down every detail of his attire and look, she decided it needed to be changed. "You're gonna need something else," she vaguely pointed out. Zig simply replied with a confused expression. She took note of his confusion and explained herself. "It's just that, we have a certain…trademark that people know us by in case they need something."

He quickly caught on to what she meant but he really only had two pair of pants and a few shirts and hoodies. "I'm not sure how I can achieve that trademark."

"Hey! Percy! Give him your jacket!" Grace said snapping for Percy to give Zig the jacket he was wearing.

"Aww come on, tell him to get one of his own!"

She strutted up to the guy, grabbed his collar, and moved just inches away from his face. "Listen give him your jacket or we're cutting you off," she angrily told him. Percy hesitantly took off his jacket and handed it to Zig. "You can deal with the rest of the outfit items later when you really get the business going. We'll meet before school tomorrow. We usually meet by the back of the school. Where the panther sign is," she explained before leaving with her group.

As Zig watched them leave he put on his new leather jacket. The feeling was cold and tingly. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't a bit frightened taking a business offer with Grace and her gang but he was determined. Determined to move on from the blonde cello girl he once knew, determined to ease the situation him and his mom were in, and most of all, to destroy the person he once was. The Zig Novak that everyone knew was to be history.


End file.
